Page 12 - Thursday, January 1, 2015

Jonathan Bailey

RiponPress.com Sports Poll

Last week’s sports ques-tion on RiponPress.com asked readers how impor-tant it was for the Packers to beat the Lions Sunday and receive a first-round bye.

Here are the results: ‰ Very; it’s one less game they have to win on the road to the Super Bowl 71% ‰ Somewhat; the rest helps, but it’s not that big of a deal 21% ‰ Not at all; it will just make them rusty come the divisional round 7%

This week’s question: How will the Green Bay Packers fare in the playoffs?‰ They will lose in the divi-sional round ‰ They will lose in the NFC Championship game ‰ They will lose in the Super Bowl‰ They will win in the Super Bowl To vote, log on to www.riponpress.com and click on Sports. The poll is located on the right side of the page. Poll results will be pub-lished in the following week’s Commonwealth.

Ben Pulvermacher

RIPON

RECAP

After finishing 2013 strong by leading the Tiger soccer team to its best season in pro-gram history, the 2014 Ripon High School graduate carried over his success to 2014.

Pulvermacher qualified for the state wrestling tournament in February and played a piv-otal role in the Tiger baseball team’s return to state in June.

He missed the first month of the wrestling season with an injury suffered in the second-to-last soccer game, but did not miss a beat, post-ing a record of 17-7 overall.

Making his first appear-ance at the state meet, Pulver-macher won his first match, before dropping his final two.

Pulvermacher also over-came adversity during the baseball season, returning from Mono earlier than expected to help the baseball team in its tournament run.

He batted better-than .400 on the season and played solid defense at shortstop.

BY THE

NUMBERS10

The number of memorable sports moments from 2014 recapped in the Sports Year in Review.

Do you have any other moments that you would like to mention.? Or would you like to comment on some-thing you read here?

Do so at RiponPress.com. Just click on “Sports” from the home page. Comments may be left for every article.

INSIDE

SPORTS

‰ Ripon sixth-grade girls’ basketball team places first at tournament see page 13

‰ Tiger grapplers in top half of the field after first day of OTW Classic see page 13

Sports

3.6 seconds.That is how long it took for Ri-

pon to be put on the map in 2014.But the past year has been

defined by much more than Ben Vander Plas’ buzzer-beating shot against Laconia in early March.

It has seen deep tournament runs, state tournament appearanc-es and several coaches step away, among many other moments.

So lets revisit the area’s top-10 memories of 2014 and everything it had to offer.

‘THE SHOT’ SWEEPS RIPON, STATE AND NATION BY STORM

The play took 3.6 seconds.But it has lived on,

and will continue to, for much longer.

Down two points with 3.6 seconds remaining in its regional final game at Laconia, the Ripon Tiger boys’ basketball team’s chances of advancing were bleak.

It needed to inbound the bas-ketball and go the length of the floor to try and get off a possible game-tying or game-winning shot.

But that was when the unques-tionable play of the year occurred.

Luke Loewe received the inbound pass from Riley Haas, took one dribble and fired the ball to Ben Vander Plas — who shot a fade-away 3-pointer from the corner as time expired.

Ripon G-E-T(s) handed 1st loss

2014: a year of buzzer-beaters,

Nothing but net.The Ripon student section

stormed the court and players jumped on top of Ben Vander Plas.

“I can’t explain the feeling,” Ripon head coach Dean Vander Plas said after the game. “As a

coach, you feel really good for your 15 players, and as that kid’s [Ben Vander Plas] dad, I can’t tell you what the emotion was like. I told them before the game that we have to have faith.”

“I shot it, and the first time I

knew it went in is when Andrew Radloff tackled me,” Ben Vander Plas added about the shot, ac-knowledging it was “a little bit” lucky. “After I shot it, I tripped and Andrew tackled me. From there it is kind of just a blur.”

While the play took just 3.6 seconds, it has received a lot more than 15 minutes of fame.

A video of “The Shot,” cap-tured by the Commonwealth, was viewed more than 80,000 times within the first two days and now has been viewed 115,000 times.

It was linked to national web-sites such as Bleacher Report and MaxPreps and reportedly was on the “Today” show and “Morn-ing Joe.” Even the New Zealand Herald had posted it to its site.

“Every time I checked my phone, there were a couple more notifications — texts and tweets,” Dean Vander Plas said, noting he was shocked by the number of views it was getting. “I saw it was at 4,000 views [the morning after], and thought, that was kind of cool. [Later], I was trying to get tape on different teams that are still alive ... and a bunch of my friends said, ‘Hey I just watched the video of Ben’s shot,” and I saw 20,000 had

watched it. [Then two mornings after the shot] I woke up and saw over 40,000 had watched it.

“I joked with some people that Ben watched it 30,000 times, be-cause I don’t think he slept much.”

BASEBALL TEAM GOES TO STATE FOR 2ND TIME IN 4 YEARS

Sometimes, it takes heartbreak to lead to triumph.

That was the case for the Ripon Tiger baseball team in 2014.

Coming off a heart-breaking loss to Wisconsin Dells in the regional finals a year earlier, Ripon received more than just redemption.

After an up-and-down regu-lar season in which they went 10-6 in the conference and 13-6 overall, the Tigers elevated their game when it mattered the most.

They out-scored their oppo-nents 26-7 in the WIAA tourna-ment to qualify for their second state tournament appearance.

Among the wins were a 5-0 victory over River Valley and 9-1 triumph against Big Foot in the sectional semifinals and finals.

They then gave Viroqua all it

state berths and changes“The Shot” highlights

top-10 moments

BROCK MOLDENHAUER HOISTS the sectional championship plaque back in June after the Tigers clinched a berth in the state tournament. Smiling along with Moldenhauer are, from left, Payton Bryden, Carter Meyer, Mitch Jorgensen, Jake Merrill and Brett Lind. Jonathan Bailey photo

ABOVE, A SCREENSHOT from a video taken by the Commonwealth shows the reaction of the Ripon and Laconia players, as well as the fans, as Ben Vander Plas’ buzzer-beating 3-pointer goes through the basket Saturday, March

1. The shot gave Ripon a 43-42 victory and the regional championship. Inset, Vander Plas, left, is mobbed by teammates, who included, from left, Brock Moldenhauer, Luke Loewe and Riley Haas.

1

2

See YEAR/ page 14

by Jonathan Baileyjonathanb@riponprinters.com

The Ripon High School boys’ basketball team faced its toughest test of the season Monday evening.

The result was not what it had hoped for.

Ripon couldn’t overcome a slow start and fell to Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau (G-E-T) 70-64 at the Shawano Sundrop Classic for its first loss of the season.

The game took place at the Kress Events Center in Green Bay.

It was a battle of two teams ranked in the top five of Division 3 in the WisSports.net Coaches’ Poll, as the Tigers entered the game ranked No. 1 and the Red Hawks came into the contest ranked No. 5.

“We got off to a bad start de-fensively by giving up easy looks and we got off to a bad start of-fensively, turning the ball over

our first three possessions,” Ripon head coach Dean Vander Plas said. “We made it a tough uphill climb from there. They knocked down some big shots and we played from behind the whole way and kind of had a scramble mentality rather than a championship mentality and it took me a long time to figure out how to get the ball out of [G-E-T shooter] Nick Wagner’s hands. The kids battled the whole way.”

Ripon (6-1 overall) fell behind 10-2 early in the game due in part to the turnovers and its inability to stop G-E-T (7-1 overall)

It cut the deficit to four points on a couple occasions in the first quarter, but couldn’t get any closer than that the rest of the game.

Dean Vander Plas had no an-swer for the Tigers’ sloppy start, which saw them commit seven turnovers in the first quarter. They committed six the rest of the game.

“I don’t know,” he said about what led to the miscues. “I wish I could tell you. I don’t know if we tried to do too much, if our adrena-line level was high. To me it looked like we were just a hair off; we were either late on passes or we were high on passes. They weren’t forced turnovers. They were turnovers that we committed and that’s the part we just have to figure out how to work through and get better at.”

Another area that the Tigers had no answer for was G-E-T’s duo of Nick Wagner and Lucas Scherr.

The two players combined for 44 of the Red Hawks’ 70 points on 18-of-28 shooting from the field.

“Wagner just made some in-credible plays,” Dean Vander Plas said. “We generally had a hand in his face and he made some big shots ... Scherr was 9 of 12 from

LUKE LOEWE SPLITS two Berlin defenders in Ripon’s 69-32 road victory over Berlin last week Tuesday. Jonathan Bailey photo

SPOTLIGHTAthlete of 2014

See HANDED/ page 13

Thursday, January 1, 2015 - Page 13

PIGSKINPICKS

Express & Press

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Winners from WEEK 17 games are

1st place – Lisa Taylor2nd place – Myron Thews3rd place – David Polcyn

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Sunday,Jan. 4

Monday,Jan. 5

Tuesday,Jan. 6

Wednesday,Jan. 7

On DeckA look ahead at this week’s Ripon sporting events

RHS Tigers Red Hawks

Thursday, Jan. 1

N Home game‰ Away game

N Women’s basketball vs. Carroll (5:30 p.m.)

‰ Boys’ basketball at Freedom (7:15 p.m.)

‰ Girls’ basketball at Laconia (7:15 p.m.)

N Women’s basketball vs. Knox (1 p.m.)N Men’s basketball vs. Knox (3 p.m.)

‰ Boys’ basketball at Lomira (7:30 p.m.)

‰ Girls’ basketball at Freedom (7:15 p.m.)

N Men’s basketball vs. Carroll (7:30 p.m.)

Outdoors Club offers ice fishing equipment to students, familiesThe Ripon High School Outdoors Club, through donations, has ac-

quired a selection of ice fishing-related equipment that is available to Ripon Area School District families at no charge.

Ripon High School, Lumen Charter School and Crossroads Charter School students receive first choice to reserve the equipment, but all families of district students may utilize the service.

Students must have a signed permission slip on file, which is good for the entire time the student is enrolled in high school. They also must complete a short safety instruction on the use of all equipment.

Loss of equipment or damaged equipment due to neglect or mistreat-ment will be the responsibility of the student to replace or pay for. They will be responsible for replacing one-pound propane cans with a new, unused can for the shack heaters when they return the equipment.

The Outdoors Club suggests students reserve equipment well before the dates they want to use them.

Among the ice fishing equipment available for use are Marcum LX3 sonar units, Frabill two- and three-man pop-over ice shacks, Clam one-man pop-over ice shack, HT one-man pop-over ice shack, Strike-Master hand augers, light-powered ice rod and reels, medium-powered ice rod and reels, battery-operated aerated minnow buckets, tip ups, Little Buddy ice shack heaters and a Jiffy propane auger.

The Outdoors Club also has 15 Frabill ice picks for ice rescue. Randy Butters, one of the club’s supervisors, noted they are especially important at this time, when the ice might not be as thick yet.

To reserve equipment or for more information, call Butters at 920-896-3132.

HANDED/Ripon steamrolls rival Berlin 69-32 continued from page 12

Sports BriefsCompiled by Jonathan Bailey

Sports

THE SIXTH-GRADE Ripon girls’ basketball team smiles after winning the Markesan Tournament, which took place Saturday, Dec. 13. Teams it beat were Winneconne, Cambria and Markesan. The last game was against Markesan and went into overtime. Pictured are, front row, from left, Aubrey Kwakkel, McKenzie Nodolf, Avery Downs; second row, coach John Tobin, Cassidy Mader, Hadley Neper, Artesa Elliott, Susan Kutz; back row, coach Pam Swanson, Lexi Miller, Grace Tobin, Joslyn Godson and coach Kim Sanders submitted photo

Champs!

the floor. We just made stuff re-ally, really easy for him on some of the things. We over-helped, our rotations were off and he was the benefactor and the kid didn’t miss.”

The Tiger coach did add he was proud of how Luke Loewe, Riley Haas and especially Hunter Merrill stepped up and defended Wagner in the second half.

“I thought Hunter’s effort, Luke’s effort, Riley’s effort at the top of our man-to-man [defense] was incredible and Hunter just displayed a will to try and stay in front of the kid,” Dean Vander Plas said. “The kid beat [Merrill] off the dribble and he chased him down from behind. He just scrambled and that’s the best part about Hunter. He’s always going to give you 100 percent of what he has and his hustle was amazing [Monday].”

Dean Vander Plas also was pleased with his team’s fight.

Despite trailing by 16 points on a couple occasions in the second half, including at the end of the third quarter, the Tigers fought back to make it a game.

They scored the first 11 points of the fourth quarter to cut the defi-

cit to five, before the Red Hawks answered with five-straight points to end any hope of a comeback.

“The amount of just determina-tion and grit these kids showed was incredible and they spent it all,” Dean Vander Plas said. “It was an incredible display of energy. I thought they never showed a quit and I really like that about them ...”

Luke Loewe led Ripon in scoring in the losing effort with 23 points, while Ben Vander Plas and Riley Haas chipped in with 17 and 12 points, respectively.

Ben Vander Plas also pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds, while Haas dished out a team-high seven assists.

RIPON SCORES 46 POINTS IN FIRST HALF, ROLLS PAST BERLIN

Many teams would be happy scoring 46 points in a game.

Ripon recorded that many points in the first half last week Tuesday against rival Berlin.

And it has its defense to thank.The Tigers took advantage of

18 first-half Indian turnovers to jump out to a 46-18 halftime lead and cruised to a 69-32 road victory.

They committed only three first-half miscues.

“It got fueled by our defense,” Dean Vander Plas said of the of-fense. ”... When you have got a

15-possession advantage, good things happen for you offensively. I liked the way we started defen-sively. It fueled our offense.

“And then at the end of the game, the second half, I thought we executed well the whole time.”

The offense also got fueled by the sophomore tandem of Ben Vander Plas and Loewe.

It combined for 33 of the team’s 46 first-half points, with Loewe accounting for 18 of the points and Ben Vander Plas adding 15.

Loewe finished with a game-high 25 points, while Ben Vander Plas chipped in with 17. The two players combined to make 16 of 22 shots (73 percent) from the field.

They only played around four minutes in the second half due to the game already being in hand.

“I’ve gotten to know those kids since they were very, very little and watching them, they have a chemistry,” Dean Vander Plas said. “They know what the other guy is going to do. They have a desire to compete and tonight, they played well on both ends of the floor. They got their hands on all kinds of stuff. When those guys are tipping balls like that and changing ends of the floor, it’s really fun to watch. They have some things that they can do that are pretty special and, I thought, [last week Tuesday] we

got to see a lot of those things.”Eddie Muench and Haas also

had nice games for Ripon, adding nine points apiece.

Another player who impressed the Tiger coach was Austin Lopez.

The freshman saw extended minutes in the second half, scor-ing a career-high five points.

“We need Austin to play, and right now, he’s thinking,” Dean Vander Plas said. “[Last week Tuesday], because of the flow of the game, he got a chance to play and, I think, you saw in the second half some of things we see from him from an athletic perspective and a skill perspective. It was great for him to remove the thought and actually get back to playing.”

TIGERS WILL TRY TO BOUNCE BACK FROM LOSS TODAY

Ripon will try to learn from the G-E-T loss today (Tuesday) when it faces neighboring Laconia at 3:30 p.m. at the Kress Events Center.

It will be a rematch of last year’s dramatic regional championship game, where Ben Vander Plas sunk a game-winning shot at the buzzer.

The Spartans are ranked No. 6 in Division 3 in the most recent WisSports.net Coaches’ Poll.

“I think anything you learn from is a positive in life,” Dean Vander Plas said about the G-E-T loss. “I don’t look at it as a good loss, a bad loss, a good win, a bad win, what I look at it as is ‘Can we learn from what we did and can we build on that to get better?’ We found some things out. I found some things out just coaching; things that I wish I would have done or tweaked.

“I think this is a call to each of us to examine what we’re doing and try to get better and, I think, the really good teams whether they win or they lose, they examine it and get better from it. And [Mon-day] they exposed some things that we need to get better at.”

The Tigers also will travel Sat-urday to Lomira for a non-confer-ence game and Tuesday, Jan. 6 to Freedom for a match-up with the undefeated and No. 4-ranked Irish.

Those games will begin at 7:30 and 7:15 p.m., respectively.

Tiger grapplers in the top half of the field after first day of tourney

The Ripon High School wrestling team finished the first day of the Lourdes Academy On the Water (OTW) Classic in the top half of the field.

It entered today’s (Tuesday’s) second and final day of the competition in 23rd place out of 64 teams with 87.5 points. It is less than 10 points back of 17th-place Oshkosh West. Coleman leads the way with 206.5 points.

Advancing to the quarterfinals before losing Monday for the Tigers were Zach Beck (106-pound weight class), Nick Retzlaff (132), Ryan Socha (195) and Cody Jacobson. With the losses, they all move into the consolation bracket, where they will battle today for third place.

Full individual records after one day of the Lourdes Academy On The Water Classic are: Zach Beck (106), 2-1; Adam Schlehlein (113), 1-2; Ian Schraufnagel (113), 3-2; Aubrey Schoff (126), 1-2; Retzlaff (132), 2-1; Wilson Agamaite (138), 0-2; Dakota Mundell (145), 0-2; Shawn Timm (152), 3-2; Cody Button (160), 0-2; T.J. Beck (170), 2-2; Jakob Kastenholz (182), 0-2; Socha (195), 2-1; Bender (220), 1-2; and Jacobson (285), 2-1.

For full results from the tournament, including comments from Tiger head coach Jared Esala, see next week’s edition of the Commonwealth.

BEN VANDER PLAS gets hit on the top of his head as he goes up for a shot attempt against Berlin. Jonathan Bailey photo

AUSTIN LOPEZ shoots the ball in traffic last week Tuesday. Jonathan Bailey photo

Thursday, August 13, 2015 - Page 21

Jonathan Bailey

RiponPress.com Sports Poll

Last week’s sports ques-tion on RiponPress.com asked readers which Ripon High School fall sport they were looking forward to the most?

Here are the results:‰ Boys’ soccer 12%‰ Cross country 12% ‰ Football 53%‰ Girls’ tennis 15% ‰ Volleyball 9%

This week’s question: Do you believe the change of conference will help Ripon High School be more com-petitive as a whole?‰ Yes, teams are more on the Tigers level‰ No, the new confer-ence will be just as tough‰ Undecided; ask me after this school year To vote, log on to www.riponpress.com and click on Sports. The poll is located on the right side of the page. Poll results will be published in the following week’s Commonwealth.

Alex Goyette

RIPON

RECAP

The 2014 Ripon High School graduate concluded his competitive playing career on a high note Sunday during the Wisconsin Ameri-can Legion Baseball All-Star Game at Miller Park.

Goyette went 2 for 2 in the game — both singles — and recorded a putout in three innings in the field.

“It was a really fun ex-perience,” Goyette said. “I got to meet a lot of different players from all around the state and then being able to play at a professional stadium like Miller Park was something you dream of as a kid. Actually being able to do it, it’s really cool.”

Goyette, who will be en-tering his sophomore year at Carroll Univesity, elected not to play college baseball and instead focus on his studies.

BY THE

NUMBERS41

The number of runners who completed the Doug Lyke 5k Twilight Run last week Saturday in Ripon.

Seth Zimdars of Ripon was the fastest finisher, com-pleting the race in a time of 17 minutes, 0.48 seconds

Amy Hutchings of Ripon was the fastest female. She finished the run in 22:36.02.

For complete results and photos, see page 22.

INSIDE

SPORTS‰ Runners take to the road for annual Doug Lyke 5k Twilight Run see page 22

Sports

LOCAL

SPOTLIGHT

‰ RC tabs Ripon’s Jim Borell as head coach of tennis teams see page 22

‰ Duffy, Vollmer fare well at Central Zones Championships see page 23

‰ Ripon girls’ tennis team swings into action at a new location see page 24

by Jonathan Baileyjonathanb@riponprinters.com

What could be more memora-ble than playing catch with 2011 National League MVP Ryan Braun or two-time World Series champion Hunter Pence?

For a former Ripon High School Tiger, it was making the day of a young man with Down Syndrome.

Matt Putzer, a 2013 Ripon High School graduate and cur-rent “Brew Crew” member for the Milwaukee Brewers recently had that opportunity while serving as a ball attendant for Wisconsin’s only Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise.

The special moment happened Friday, July 31, when the Brew-ers hosted the Chicago Cubs.

“When I was sitting there, I noticed [the young man with Down Syndrome] was to my left and [since I have] a cousin with Down Syndrome, I knew for a fact that I wanted to get him a ball sometime throughout the game,” Putzer said, adding the man was a Cubs fan. “Usually we go out there with a bag of balls, enough to warm up all the players, and then to give them out toward the end of the game.

“Then, in this game, I actu-

ally had a ground ball that was hit to me from a Cubs player. So then right when I got it, he was the first person I was going to, to give him the ball ... After I gave him the ball, he said that I made his day. The rest of the game, he was just playing catch with the ball he had. It was just cool.”

After the game, the young man asked Putzer to sign the baseball and wanted to take a picture with the former Tiger.

Putzer happy obliged and later posted on Instagram how much it meant to him to be able to make someone’s day.

“Just remember that there are some people out there who have been through way tougher times than you have. No better feeling in the world than giving a foul ball to Michael tonight.

Definitely a moment I will never forget. #BeGrateful @brewers.”

While Putzer said that giving the ball to Michael was his fa-vorite moment of the summer, he has made plenty of other memo-ries with the Brew Crew.

One of them is helping warm up MLB outfielders, including Braun and Pence.

With the exception of a few sports, the 2014-15 school year was a tough one for Ripon Tigers.

But with a new year comes a new start. Never is it more true

than this upcoming season.For the first time in nearly 10

years, the Ripon Tigers will be part of a new conference — one that, on the surface, appears will enable them to be more competi-tive.

As part of a conference re-alignment plan that was approved in 2013, the Tigers will move back to the East Central Confer-ence from the Eastern Valley.

Ripon was a member of the East Central Conference from the league’s inception in 1970 until its disbandment in 2007, when the Tigers and three other teams left to join the Eastern Valley.

While Ripon is no stranger to playing in the East Central Con-ference, it is going to have to get used to a number of new teams.

Only Berlin and Winneconne join the Tigers in the confer-ence as original members, while Waupun was a member for three years before the conference folded.

Among the new teams to the conference are former Eastern Wisconsin members Campbell-

“Just remember that there are some people out there who have been through way tougher times than you have. No better feeling in the world than giving a foul ball to

Michael tonight. Definitely a moment I will never forget. #BeGrateful @brewers.”

#UnforgettableMomentFormer Tiger makes

the day of a young man with Down Syndrome

See FRESH/ page 23

See MOMENT/ page 28

Fresh start: New conference takes effect

this year

Ripon represented at Legion All-Star Game at Miller Park

Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity

by Jonathan Baileyjonathanb@riponprinters.com

Getting a chance to play at Miller Park was a dream come true for Ripon American Legion baseball player Alex Goyette.

Going 2 for 2 at the plate was just the icing on the cake.

The Riponite singled in both of his at bats Sunday during the Wisconsin American Legion Base-ball All-Star Game and recorded a putout in three innings in the field.

The game took place following the conclusion of the Milwaukee Brewers’ 5-4 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. The Legion all-stars and coaches were introduced before the Major League game.

“That was really great,” Goyette said of the two hits. “That was a big plus on top of it. Just being able to get a couple at bats there [is spe-

cial], but getting hits is even better.”Goyette wasn’t the only person

from Ripon represented at the all-star game. His head coach, Keith Cluppert, was one of three selected to coach the South Team.

Like Goyette, Cluppert noted it was an unforgettable experience.

“I’m glad I was chosen,” Clup-pert said. “For a long time I thought it wasn’t a big deal, but it really was a big deal so it’s pretty cool … Not many people have been chosen — even for those kids. You look at how many kids partici-pate in Legion ball and how many actually get chosen to go down there and play, it’s pretty cool.”

While the South Team ended up falling to the North Team 8-4, Cluppert and Goyette will not soon forget the memories they created.

For more photos from the day, see page 28.

2013 RIPON HIGH School graduate and Brew Crew member Matt Putzer stands next to a young man with Down Syndrome who he gave a ball to during a recent Brewers/Cubs game. submitted photo

ABOVE, RIPON’S ALEX Goyette singles a ball over the first baseman’s head Sunday during the Wisconsin American Legion All-Star Game at Miller Park as his coach, Ripon’s Keith Cluppert, mans first base. Inset, Goyette tips his cap as he is introduced before the Brewers game against the Cardinals, which preceded the Legion contest. Emily Goyette and Jonathan Bailey photos

RIPON’S KEITH CLUPPERT grins as he shakes the hand of an umpire between innings. Jonathan Bailey photo

Page 28 - Thursday, August 13, 2015

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MOMENT/Putzer still has to fight the temptation to catch balls hit into foul territory continued from page 21

Sports

“It’s definitely really cool,” Putzer said. “It’s something that I never thought I would be able to do. The first probably three or four times I went out there, I was defi-nitely nervous — really nervous to short-hop them or throw it over their head and make them mad.

“But now that I’ve been doing it more, it’s definitely coming easier for me, but I still get the butterflies of being out on the field and playing catch with them, which is pretty neat. Fans always want the balls that were touched by a Major Leaguer and I just get to touch it every time he throws it back to me.”

One of the more memorable players that the former Ripon Ti-ger has played catch with during his time with the Brew Crew is the Atlanta Braves’ Eury Perez.

“He was throwing me curve-balls and stuff like that, so that was pretty cool,” Putzer said.

The Riponite also added Pence was “a pretty weird one.”

“He would probably throw the ball around 80 miles per hour like he was trying to be a pitcher or something and then he would just throw it his side-arm way and then he would laugh at you,” Putzer said. “So he was also another cool one.”

Playing catch with Major League Baseball players is not the only area Putzer had to get used to with his job.

Instructed from a young age to take charge and go after fly balls in his vicinity, he has to fight the urge to pursue balls popped up into foul territory.

“That’s probably the hardest part,” Putzer said. “Whenever there is like a popup near you,

I always want to get up and go catch it, but what we’re sup-posed to do is pick up our stool and run the other way. So it’s definitely a little different being on this side now that I just have to watch it and see if the player will make the catch or not … I just don’t want to be the guy who touches the fair ball.”

While he has gotten better at fighting those urges to go after a popup, he came close to making the highlights for the wrong rea-sons near the start of the season.

“The player dove right by me and I took a step forward first be-cause I wanted to go catch it, but then I remembered so I stepped back,” Putzer said. “Thankfully, it was probably a good 10 feet away, so it wasn’t terribly close.”

Being a ball attendant is just a small part of what the former Tiger’s job with the Brewers has been this summer.

He figures he has worked around 45 to 50 home games so far this season and noted he only has been a ball attendant in seven to eight of those contests.

When not on the field, Putzer escorts the Klements Racing Sau-sages and the Barrelman around and takes pictures of people with the mascots, works the kids’ zone, rides around the parking lots as part of the Tailgate Patrol handing out prizes and accompa-nies Bernie Brewer in his dugout.

Not only has he been in Ber-nie’s Dugout, but he was able to go down Bernie’s slide — an-other unforgettable experience.

“It’s pretty cool just being on top, just seeing like the whole field,” Putzer said. “When I did [go down the slide], it was during

the Brewers’ batting practice. So I went up there and watched a little bit of that and then got to go down it a few times. It’s pretty much like any other slide, except of course you’re at a baseball dia-mond and it’s a little bit quicker than a normal slide. But other than that, it was pretty cool just knowing that’s where Bernie goes every time there is a home run.”

Putzer will continue to make memories until the end of the season, when his job with the Brew Crew ends.

But he hopes the experiences are just the beginning of his time working with the Brewers.

“My goal next year is to get an internship with them kind of being a lead of what I do know,” Putzer said. “So then I would watch over and make sure ev-erybody is doing what they are suppose to be doing .. I would take some of the role of making peoples’ schedule like [my boss] does and then scheduling some appearances on non-game days.”

Major League experience

RIPON’S ALEX GOYETTE, middle, runs with his all-star teammates during warm-ups. The team ran to the centerfield wall at Miller Park and back to the visitor’s dugout.

ALEX GOYETTE TAKES a lead off first base Sunday following one of his two hits.

ABOVE LEFT, ALEX Goyette warms up despite an outfield sprinkler going off. Above right, Goyette smiles as he runs through the mist.

RIPON LEGION HEAD coach Keith Cluppert acknowledges the crowd during introductions before the start of the Brewers game.

photos by Jonathan Bailey and Brian Goyette

KEITH CLUPPERT TALKS to a member of American Legion baseball, while Alex Goyette walks toward the dugout.

MATT PUTZER SITS on a stool down the first-base line and waits for a foul ball during a game against the Pirates earlier this season. Jonathan Bailey photo

RYAN BRAUN THROWS a ball to Ripon’s Matt Putzer between innings of a game earlier this season. Jonathan Bailey photo

Alex Goyette and Keith Cluppert represented Ripon Sunday in the Wisconsin American Legion Base-ball All-Star Game at Miller Park. For more information, see page 21.

Thursday, July 23, 2015 - Page 17

“We can’t spot seven, eight, nine runs in

the first couple innings ... We haven’t shown we can come back and score a lot of runs.”

Keith CluppertRipon Legion head coach

RiponPress.com Sports Poll

Last week’s sports question on RiponPress.com asked readers what their thoughts were on Brett Favre being inducted into the Green Bay Pack-ers Hall of Fame?

Here are the results: ‰ It’s time; he is a Packer legend and deserves it 71% ‰ I’m indifferent; his de-parture still stings a bit 14%‰ He’s a traitor and should never be inducted 14%

This week’s question: How excited are you for the Packers to open training camp Wednesday, July 30‰ Very; I normally try to get up there at some point to catch a practice‰ Somewhat; it means football is getting closer to returning‰ Not at all; wake me up when the real games start To vote, log on to www.riponpress.com and click on Sports. The poll is located on the right side of the page. Poll results will be pub-lished in the following week’s Commonwealth.

Ben Vander Plas

RIPON

RECAP

The incoming Ripon High School junior had a big week last week — both on and off the basketball court.

Vander Plas played eight games for the Wisconsin Playmakers 16U and 17U and scored anywhere from nine to 29 points in the games. With those perfor-mances, he helped the 17U advance to the Elite 8 of the NY2LA Summer Jam Tournament — a national tournament that took place at Homestead High School.

He also received a scholar-ship offer from the Univer-sity of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Sunday night. He now has offers from UW-Milwaukee, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IU-PUI), Northern Michigan and Cedarville University.

BY THE

NUMBERS3

The number of Ripon Community Swim Club mem-bers who will be competing at the 12 & Under Long Course State Championships this weekend in Brown Deer, Wis.

Anya Duffy (10), Sammi Slo-necker (10) and Alaina Vollmer (12) will take part in the com-petition, which begans Fridays and runs through Sunday at the Walter Schoeder Aquatic Center.

For more information, in-cluding what events they are competing in, see page 18.

INSIDE

SPORTS‰ Green Lake Legion team concludes regular season, starts tourney today see page 18

Sports

LOCAL

SPOTLIGHT

‰ Three local swimmers will compete at 12 & under long course state meet see page 18

‰ There’s still time to register for Sunday’s RMC Triathlon see page 18

Ripon Legion falls to Waupun 17-7, begins tournament tonightby Jonathan Bailey

jonathanb@riponprinters.com

The Ripon American Legion baseball team had an opportunity last week Thursday to gain mo-mentum heading into regionals.

It didn’t take the advantage.Ripon committed four errors

and made several other mistakes in a 17-7, five-inning loss to Waupun.

The game , which took place in Waupun, was p l a y e d i n a steady rain and with poor field conditions.

With the loss, Ripon finishes the regular sea-son 3-13 in the East Central Amer-ican Legion and 4-14 overall. It will begin regional play tonight (Wednesday) against Lomira/The-resa in Brownsville, Wis.

“Not a lot of good stuff you can say about that game,” Ripon head coach Keith Cluppert said. “We had [four] errors. Yes, it was raining and the infield was wet, but the other team had to deal with the rainy conditions as well.”

Despite making numerous mistakes, Ripon was able to hang around with Waupun early on.

It jumped out to a 2-0 advantage in the top half of the first inning on an Austen Nissen RBI single and wild pitch and then answered a four-run first inning by Waupun with three runs in the second.

But it was all Waupun after that

as it out-scored Ripon 13-1 the rest of the way to secure the victory.

Waupun took a 7-6 lead with three runs in the bottom of the sec-ond inning and added two runs in the third, three in the fourth and five in the fifth as it put in effect the 10-run mercy rule after five innings.

Ripon was out-hit by Waupun 13-4 and walked 11 batters.

It did benefit from three Wau-pun errors and drew nine free passes of its own to score its seven runs.

Alex Goyette accounted for two of Ripon’s hits, while Nis-sen and Ben Er-

matinger had the other two.Owen Krueger picked up the

loss on the mound for Ripon.

RIPON FALLS TO MARKESAN 11-1Ripon dug itself a big hole last

week Wednesday against Marke-san and didn’t recover as it lost 11-1 in five innings on the road.

It allowed five runs in the first inning and eight in the first two en route to the lopsided loss.

“All season, it’s been getting behind early that has hurt us,” Cluppert said. “We can’t spot seven, eight, nine runs in the first couple innings. I don’t want to say were not capable of making it up, but we haven’t showed that we can come back and score a lot of runs.”

Ripon hurt itself in the game by

See FALLS/ page 18

by Jonathan Baileyjonathanb@riponprinters.com

Was President Obama in Green Lake?

That’s what Sharkz Brewz ’n Bitez waitress Alyssa Nielson tried to figure out while waiting on a table earlier this month.

He wasn’t — but little did Nielsen know she was, in fact, in the presence of a legend.

Milwaukee Brewers’ great and Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Robin Yount stopped by the Green Lake restaurant with a group of friends Wednes-day, July 1.

“No, I didn’t [recognize him],” Niel-son said. “He was actually with a group of buddies and one of his buddies actually looked a little bit like Barack Obama and they kept making jokes to me like, ‘Oh, this is Barack Obama.’ So I was more distracted by that and then they also had another one of their buddies who was a country singer and he had just left to go to Country USA.”

It wasn’t until she left to get their drinks that she found out a famous person was at that table.

“August [Schultz] was leav-ing after his shift and he saw me take their drink order and that’s when he was like, ‘Is that Robin Yount?’” Nielson recalled, adding she’s not a big baseball or Brew-ers’ fan. “And I was like, ‘Ahhh.’”

According to Nielson, Yount was in the Green Lake area visit-ing friends, one of whom has a house or boat on Green Lake. Apparently, they had just gotten off the water from a fishing trip.

What surprised the waitress most was Yount’s personality.

“... He was so laid back,” she said. “That’s why I didn’t really believe [his friends that he was Robin Yount] ... They were messing with me so much that

when they told me that he was a two-time [most valuable player], I thought they were still messing with me because he was just such a laid-back guy; he was playing cards with his friends. He wasn’t full of himself or anything in a way that would make me think that he was who he was.”

John Maczuzak, owner of Sharkz added Yount was “a cor-dial, really nice guy.”

Nielsen wasn’t the only waitress who did not realize who

Yount was until being told.

Cora Glass also had no idea a Milwau-kee Brewers’ legend was in her midst.

“Not right away, until one of the bartend-

ers had explained it to me,” Glass said of not recognizing him. “But then I thought, ‘Hey, that’s cool. We have somebody that’s famous, particularly for being a baseball player [in] Wisconsin.’”

While Glass and Nielson didn’t know who Yount was right away, plenty of other employees, as well as customers, recognized him.

“Anybody who walked by noticed him,” Nielson said. “He was sitting kind of by the railing, too, where most people walk up towards. So he was sitting in a spot that people kept walking by and they would either ask for his autograph immediately or they would come inside and ask us, ‘Wait, is that really him?’”

One person who recognized Yount right away was bartender Gary Piotter, an avid Milwaukee Brewers’ fan.

“I’ve gone to Spring Train-ing a couple different times in Arizona,” he said. “Last year, we went to 17 home games. Know-ing who people are, I recognized him instantly when he walked in with that group of guys.”

Piotter, who seated Yount and his group, noted that he thanked the former Brewers player for

his years of service with the team and told him it was nice to watch him play and that he was a good role model for people.

He then went back inside to tell Maczuzak about who was eating at his restaurant. But the owner didn’t believe him at first.

“He was [like], ‘No way,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, absolutely,’” Piotter recalled about his conver-sation with Maczuzak. “He goes

and looks through the window and I’m like, ‘Yeah, he’s sit-ting on the end with the ball hat on,’ and John says, ‘Absolutely, wow.’”

Piotter then asked Maczuzak if he could ask Yount for an auto-graph and Maczuzak said, “Yes.”

So he grabbed a Sharkz’ T-shirt and menu for Yount to sign.

“When I had gone outside to ask him, I said, ‘Mr. Yount,

would you have a moment to sign an autograph for us, at least a memento that you were here?’ He said, ‘Oh yeah, absolutely,’” Piot-ter recalled. “While he was doing that he chuckled and said, ‘I don’t know why anybody would want that,’ while laughing.”

Nielson added Yount seemed fine with signing autographs and

“H e wasn’t full of himself or anything in a way

that would make me think that he was who he was.”

Alyssa Nielsonon Brewers’ legend Robin Yount

ROBIN YOUNT, CENTER, laughs with a group of friends during a recent visit to Sharkz Brewz ’n Bitez in Green Lake. submitted photo

High-fives all around

BASKETBALLS WEREN’T the only thing flying in the air during the first couple days of the Girls’ Ripon Tiger Hoops Camp as high-fives were plentiful. Above, Ripon High School gir ls ’ head basketball coach and camp instructor Jason Wickstrom congratulates Gwen Bartlett on a job well done as Kaylynn Vodak watches. Right, Allison Bumby high-f ives Ripon High School sophomore Erin McNeill after winning a game of Lightning Monday. The camp, which began Monday runs through Thursday. For more pictures, see page 19. Jonathan Bailey photos

catches Milwaukee legend

See LEGEND/ page 18

Page 18 - Thursday, July 23, 2015

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NEW LISTINGS185 Boyd St., Fond Du Lac. Loved by the same owner for over 50 years! Beautiful hardwood floors. MLS #1752515 LISTED BY SANDI BREMER! ...................$62,900728 Park St., Ripon. Adorable! An updated kitchen + updated bath + laminate flooring + vinyl windows + Composite deck on front porch + 2 car garage = An Amazing Deal! Call for Private Showing! MLS #1751920 LISTED BY TONY DOLGNER! $69,900519 Metomen St., Ripon. Meticulously Maintained home with gleaming hardwood floors, spacious rooms, newer roof, aluminum siding, thermopane windows and a beauti-fully landscaped yard. MLS #1752217 LISTED BY HEIDI SCHWANKE! .$119,90000 Puckaway Rd., Markesan. ATTENTION HUNTERS! Premier 38 acre parcel that has it all. Crop land, wooded areas, areas for food plots and a marsh for a bedding area. Deer, turkeys and ducks galore! MLS #1752067 LISTED BY MARY FERGE! .......$149,900665 Hollander St., Markesan. Impeccable ranch that is Move in Ready. Open concept kitchen/dining and living room. Vaulted ceiling, gas log fireplace, laminate flooring, mas-ter suite with a walk-in closet, the lower level is finished Into a massive family room, full bath and a bonus room with a closet. There is direct access from the garage to the lower level. 3 car garage! MLS #1752505 LISTED BY TONY DOLGNER! ..........$199,900

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Ripon Community Swim Club members Anya Duffy (10), Sammi Slonecker (10) and Alaina Vollmer (12) will compete in the 2015 12 & Under Long Course State Championships. The meet will take place Friday through Sunday at the Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center in Brown Deer, Wis.

Duffy, who is in the 10 & under age group, will compete in six events: the 50- and 100-meter backstroke, the 50 and 100 butterfly, the 200 individual medley and 50 freestyle.

Slonecker, on the other hand, will take part in the 10 & under 50 and 100 backstroke, 50 and 100 freestyle and the 200 individual medley.

Swimming in the 11-12 age group, Vollmer will swim the 50, 100 and 200 backstroke, the 50 and 100 freestyle and 200 individual medley.

Three local swimmers will compete at 12 & under state meet

Registration is underway for the Ripon Medical Center (RMC) Triathlon, which is set for Sunday at the Green Lake Conference Center.

For the 17th year running, the RMC Triathlon is gearing up to bring athletes from all over the country to Green Lake County to swim, ride and run. The course includes a lake swim, rolling hills on the bike and secluded run course — designed for beginners to veterans. Athletes will swim, bike and run one of two courses: long/Olympic or short/sprint.

Participants still can sign up the morning of the race for $80. Individu-als also can participate as teams with registration cost day of race at $135.

RMC Triathlon participants will receive dri-fit shirts in men’s and women’s sizes, as well as silicone swim caps.

Proceeds benefit the ImPACT (concussion testing) program at Ripon Medical Center or fitness equipment for the RMC Wellness Center.

For more information, call 745-3633 or visit the website at www.rmctriathlon.com.

There’s still time to register for the Ripon Medical Center Triathlon

Sports BriefsCompiled by Jonathan Bailey

Sports

Today (Wednesday)

Game 1: Beaver Dam vs. Slinger, 5 p.m.

Game 2: Ripon vs. Lomira/Theresa, 7 p.m.

Bye: Berlin

Thursday

Game 3: Winner Game 1 vs. Berlin, 3:30 p.m.

Game 4: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 6 p.m.

Game 5: Winner Game 2 vs. Winner Game 3, 8:30 p.m.

Friday

Game 6: Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 3, 5 p.m.

Game 7: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 5, 7 p.m.

Saturday

Game 8: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 7, Noon

Game 9: Loser Game 8 (if first loss) vs. Winner Game 8, 2:30 p.m.

In event of a rainout, Sunday will be used to complete the regional tournament

LEGEND/Yount was happy to provide autographs continued from page 17

FALLS/Ripon received a favorable draw in tournament continued from page 17

THE GREEN LAKE American Legion baseball team completed its regular season last week and will begin tournament play today (Wednesday). Pictured following their final home game last week Thursday are team members, front row, from left, Travis Longsine, Alex Van Crete, Dee Pierce, Brian Jones, Will

Kelly; back row, coach Gregg Dahnke, Logan Schultz, Ryan Bartow, Parker Nelson, Gus James, Lucas Lashock, Jake Myers and coach Connor Dahnke. Not pictured are Connor VanCrete, Derick Nelson, Andre Dosogne, Brandon Drews, Tanner Drews and Bill Jones. submitted photo

American Legion Regional TournamentToday (Wednesday) to Saturday

Brownsville, Wis.

committing six errors, which led to nine unearned runs for Markesan.

The only run Ripon scored was in the top of the first inning as Owen Krueger led off with a walk, advanced to second base on an Alex Goyette sacrifice bunt and later scored on a Bryden RBI single.

Bryden’s single was one of just three hits for Ripon in the game.

Krueger and Nathan Tremore accounted for the other two.

NEW SEASON STARTS TONIGHT (WEDNESDAY) FOR RIPON

Despite its rough regular sea-son, Ripon will receive a fresh slate tonight (Wednesday), when it faces Lomira/Theresa in the first round of the regional tournament.

It is a good draw for Ripon as it defeated Lomira/Theresa 19-1 in five-innings for one of its three victories earlier this season.

“If we can’t get fired up to face a

team like that then we can’t get fired up for anybody,” Cluppert said.

Other teams in the regional tournament, which is set up in a double-elimination format, include Berlin, Beaver Dam and Allenton.

Ripon faced two of the three teams in the regular season as it split a doubleheader with Berlin and lost to Allenton 7-4 in a game that was closer than the score indicates.

It also was supposed to play Beaver Dam, but had to forfeit due to not having enough players.

“I’ve already told them that these are teams we have the ability to beat; we have the talent to match up with them,” Cluppert said, add-ing Beaver Dam is the only team he doesn’t know about. “... Once you get to regionals, everything is different. It all depends who showed up for a game. Who’s able to pitch for you, who’s not.

“We really have an opportu-

nity to go far in this tournament if we play some good ball and it means hitting the ball. It means playing error-free or as close to error-free as possible. It means getting ahead of the count, throw-ing strikes, rather than getting behind 3-0 or 3-1 and having to lay pitches right down the middle so people can just tee off on it.”

If Ripon can win its first game against Lomira, it will receive a break in the scheduling as it will

sit out the second round of games and wait to find out its opponent.

It could face either Beaver Dam’s or Allenton’s third pitcher, while being on just its second.

That game is scheduled for Thursday at 8:30 p.m.

If Ripon loses to Lomira, it will play the loser of the first-round game between Beaver Dam and Allenton Thursday at 6 p.m.

For the complete listing of games, see the schedule on this page.

even did a few for employees.Among those getting the

former Brewers’ signature was Glass, who recently gave it to a family friend who “very much loved it.”

Glass remembers an exchange Yount had with a buddy of his after she inquired about the signature.

“One of his friends, who was sitting right next to him after I asked for his autograph, said, ‘Do you get this often?,’” Glass recalled. “And he’s like, ‘Yeah, I get this pretty often.’”

Even though Yount was will-ing to sign autographs, Nielson wanted to make sure he still en-joyed his time at the Green Lake restaurant.

“Green Lake is such a small town where people come to relax and for me, all I wanted to do was to make sure he had that ability,” Nielson said, adding she didn’t want to be “fan-girling” over him. “I kind of hovered over the table from the bar to make sure people weren’t both-ering him too much.”

The waitress added she talked to Yount’s friends more than she did to him since he was playing cards.

She did take his order, though she doesn’t recall exactly what he ordered — possibly the Jaws or Sunriser burger, to go along with a bottle of Corona.

“I do remember that he asked me if we had any other Mexi-can beers other than Corona,” Nielsen said, “and I just found out this weekend that we did have another Mexican beer that I

Green Lake Legion team completes regular season

didn’t realize we had.”She added Yount is the most

famous person she has seen at Sharkz Brewz ‘n Bitez and it was an honor to be able to serve him.

She has been working at the Green Lake restaurant since June 2014 — shortly after it opened for business.

While Nielson did not inter-act much with Yount, Piotter did have an interesting conversation with the Brewers’ legend.

“They were playing Sheeps-head at the table and I asked him how the game was going and he had stated he was pretty new to the game, so had very limited experience,” Piotter said. “I laughed and said, ‘Hopefully your friends are only playing like a nickel a card or some-thing like that for a bet’ and they started laughing.

“One guy said it was $1, next guy said it was $5, $10 and the next thing it was $20. I said, ‘Well, you’ll have your hands full. You will learn real quick.’ He asked me, ‘Are you familiar with the game?’ I said, ‘No. If I assist you in playing this game at all, we both going to be in trouble and I can’t afford to play like that.’ He starts laughing.”

Overall, Piotter and Nielson just couldn’t get over how nice Yount and his group was.

“He was very, very friendly; very cordial,” Piotter said.

“They were just like a really cool, relaxed bunch,” Nielson added. “It was kind of hard to believe [he was Robin Yount] because his friends kept messing with me so much.”

SHARKZ BREWZ ’N Bitez bartender Gary Piotter, left, receives Robin Yount’s signature. submitted photo